Oil on spark plug. Rings or overfilled case?

fixbroke · Sep 11, 2016

I pulled my spark plug today (first time since I bought the bike) to have a peek at its condition, and lo and behold the threads were coated in oil. That's not good.

I also pulled my breather checkvalve and it had some pooled oil inside, so I'm hoping it's coming from there and not the rings. I have a tendency to overfill the oil - better too much than too little in my opinion. With the lowered stance of supermoto wheels on a FE model, I like to see the oil halfway up the sight glass rather than at the bottom.

~165 hours on 2008 FE550. Power seems great. The oil is still gold when drained each 6ish hours.

I'm looking to borrow a compression tester to confirm, but in the meantime - what do you guys think? Am I due for rings, or do I just need to stop overfilling?

fixbroke · Sep 11, 2016

Oh - I should add that though I have a check valve in the breather, it still connects to the air box in the stock location.

bergmann · Sep 12, 2016

The oil will most likely be coming from the breather. Use a heavier grade oil, helps reduce the oil going through the motor via the air box. Can usually get an extra 100ml or so depending on what oil you use, should be able to sort it over a few oil changes

mudmuncher2013 · Sep 12, 2016

bergmann said:
The oil will most likely be coming from the breather. Use a heavier grade oil, helps reduce the oil going through the motor via the air box. Can usually get an extra 100ml or so depending on what oil you use, should be able to sort it over a few oil changes

can you recommend a suitable oil? everytime i ride my berg i find oil sat in the rubber boot connected to the carb!!

cheers

bergmann · Sep 13, 2016

I use motorex, can't remember the weight, might be a 15/50 or the next one up. I'm sure there are other brands of oil that are just as good for less $$$$ but to slack to try as the motorex works for me. If you have the manual it should have a chart in it that shows a recommendation for oil weight and ambient temperature(the higher the ambient temp. you ride in the heavier the oil should be according to the manual). The heavier oil holds together better once the bike heats up and stops spraying into the air box etc with the standard amount of oil. Should be able to get extra oil in but depending on what oil etc you use the amount may vary. Would recommend going with the heavier oil and standard amount until you find one that doesn't blow through the breather. Should be fine to add a little extra once you find the oil that works for you, don't go to overboard though or you'll end up with the same problem.

fixbroke · Sep 14, 2016

Thanks for the input. If it's coming from the breather and not the rings or valve guides, then I'm okay with a little oil in the combustion chamber. With the amount of oil changing that I do, upgrading oil isn't really an option. I use Rotella 15w40, so upping to a 50 or 60 weight oil would incur a substantial price jump.

Taffy · Sep 15, 2016

it could be that you don't have as sponge in the oil trap. check for this.

secondly, have you fallen quite a bit on it/ that will do it?

yes, oil level is another.

it will NOT be guide seals unless an idiot put them on badly. they last and last.

what can happen is that the mains go, bits of steel fly up onto the cylinder wall, the bits of metal then act as chocks and wedge the rings into the bottom of the grooves. this is then just a green light for the oil.

so look especially closely at the mains.

yes it can be just the piston being worn but I'm afraid looking for metal and the chocked rings is the likely answer.

regards

taffy

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Oil on spark plug. Rings or overfilled case?

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